Running from Glaciers

Filling the Dumpster

The wife and I are cleaning out the house so that we can get back to the lands of raindrops and ferry boats, Grandma and Grandad raised four kids in this house they built it in the early 60's, it is full of nooks and crannies. I work full time and my wife has been working everyday to get rid of stuff, there is nothing like cleaning out someone else's stuff to make you realize what little stuff you really need.

After a couple of months of carefully going through everything we bit the bullet and ordered a full size dumpster once we looked into the attic. The attic is bigger than my first apartment and it is stacked floor to rafter with stuff. We have found cast iron pots, several sets of tires on rims, old wooden cots and lots of dead animals (furs and antlers and the such). They were a true alaskan family, the three boys all played ice hockey and they went camping every chance they got. We have dozens of RV tables from RVs that were sold over 10 years ago, they must have played so many games of cards on those very tables.

it isn't easy to go through someone else's things and assign whether it gets sold in a garage sale, gifted to someone or hucked into the dumpster. Every little treasure we find we value what it meant to Grandma and then we throw it as hard as we can to get it to shatter into as many pieces as possible. This little ritual might sound heartless but knowing Grandma and can bet she was looking down smiling as the bulb shards fly out of that ugly lamp with the moose on it or the old green coach pillow whose cushion has turned to dust, man did that thing fly. We just don't need so many things, we want to live simply but we respect the times that grandma and grandad come from.

After three long days the dumpster is full but our stress still lingers so it is time to get the dumpster picked up and a new one delivered. Fill her up again.